Matt, Eggshell or Satin? A Painter's Honest Guide to Choosing a Finish
The colour gets the credit but the finish does the work. Here's the straight talk on which sheen belongs on which surface — and the common mistakes we fix every week.
Every week we walk into a house where the walls are scrubbable satin (showing every dent) and the skirting is matt emulsion (already scuffed to bits). Beautiful colour, wrong finish. Here's how to get it right in plain English.
Matt — for walls and ceilings, in that order
Matt hides imperfections — old plaster, slightly wavy ceilings, hairline cracks all but disappear under a good matt finish. It's also kindest on the eye in evening light.
Modern 'durable matt' paints (Dulux Diamond Matt, Little Greene Intelligent Matt) are now genuinely scrubbable — you can wipe off little fingerprints without burnishing the surface. Pick one of those in a high-traffic room and you get matt's softness plus eggshell's durability.
Eggshell — for woodwork and rooms that take a beating
Eggshell is the workhorse finish. Slight sheen, easy to wipe clean, doesn't yellow like the old oil-based satins used to. It belongs on skirting, architraves, doors, kitchen woodwork and bathroom walls.
If you've a busy hallway with kids and a dog, putting durable eggshell on the lower half of the walls (perhaps with a panelled rail) and matt above gives you the best of both worlds.
Satin and gloss — used carefully, used sparingly
Full gloss is dramatic on a front door or a piece of statement joinery. It also shows every brush mark and every flaw in the wood underneath, so prep needs to be perfect.
Satin on internal walls is mostly a hangover from the 1990s. Unless there's a specific reason — moisture, wipeability beyond what eggshell offers — we'd steer you away from it on walls today.
The shortcut
Walls and ceilings: durable matt. Woodwork, doors and kitchens: water-based eggshell. Front door: gloss or eggshell depending on the look. Bathrooms: a dedicated moisture-resistant matt. Get those four right and 95% of your decisions are done.
